The Anticipation Is Killing Me. Did I Just Lose All My Work?

Barry Davret
Jul 24, 2017 · 3 min read

443 words into my daily blog post and something goes wrong. All of the sudden that familiar error message pops up on Google Chrome.

“Aw snap. Something went wrong displaying this page”

WTF!

You know how it is when you’re in a zone. You type away. Sometimes you forget to save along the way. I’m guilty of that mistake.

Sometimes the Chrome gods grant you a miracle. Maybe I can recover my work. I click the back button hoping my work reappears.

It takes me back to the “add new post” page on Wordpress.

It shows me a blank screen.

But wait! It’s not over yet.

A message on the top of the screen tells me something is saved. It asks if I want to recover it.

Will this recover my work? Let’s see.

Anticipation

In a story, blog post or content piece the anticipation of what comes next keeps us glued to the page. If you don’t care what comes next there’s no reason to stick around until the end.

Anticipation is the glue that gets your reader to the finish line.

In my opening to this story I could have written:

“Just like that, my browser crashed and I lost my work.”

There’s no anticipation there. There’s no reason to keep going. You already know the result in the first sentence.

I like to compare anticipation to a comedian telling a joke. You know a punchline is coming at the end. You don’t know when, how or what form it will take. You wait, knowing it’s coming.

Think of it as this simple formula.

Certainty of a surprise outcome + uncertainty of when, what or how

Anticipation Pitfall

Here’s the big pitfall when creating anticipation. It’s easy to confuse anticipation with expectation.

I expect to arrive at the party at 8 PM. I anticipate seeing my ex-girlfriend there with her new boyfriend (my former best friend).

The latter example generates anticipation of what will happen. The first example is just a statement of fact.

This is a problem in a lot of business content. Much of the writing creates expectation but not anticipation.

The Simple Anticipation Formula

There are several different formula for creating anticipation. There’s one I like to follow. It’s most suitable for the type of content I write.

It’s a three step formula.

  1. Create uncertainty about the outcome
  2. Ensure the uncertainty touches a human desire. Love, hate, anger, jealousy, etc…
  3. Will your audience identify with this desire?

Creating uncertainty is easy. Making sure the audience cares is sometimes tricky. See the example below.

Will the party serve light beer?

Sure, there’s uncertainty about what kind of beer they might serve. I doubt a reader would care. Compare that to:

Will my ex and her new boyfriend be there? Her new boyfriend is also my former best friend.

The second example creates more anticipation. Touching on primal human desires generates that hand wringing interest.

I’ll admit my story about my lost a blog post is a bit weak on the second point. Losing a few hundred words isn’t the end of the world. Still, just about anyone can identify with the frustration.

Just in case you were wondering, I was able to recover all but the last sentence of my previous work. Thank god for auto save.

Anticipation is a powerful tool. Want some other tricks? Get my free guides on persuasion and creativity here. Oh, If you liked this story, click the ❤ so others may find it.

Barry Davret

Written by

Writer. Experimenter in life, productivity and creativity. Contact: barry@barry-davret dot com.

surTHRIVAL Skillz — By Barry Davret

Next Level Skills For The Modern World

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